Page 81 of Grave Situation

It’s the only warning we get, and I shout to the others, sending a mental cry to Tia as the first arrow winnows toward us. Sweetie shies, and I barely manage to keep my seat, only to be knocked out of it a moment later when Coryn dives for me.

“Turds, Coryn, what?—”

“They’re shooting from above. Get into the trees!” he yells, yanking Jaimin down from his saddle and shoving him after me. The horses, not being stupid, bolt. I hope they don’t go far.

Keeping low, we run into the trees, and I try not to think about the fact that the only place “above” for anyone to shoot from isina tree. Let’s hope we’re not hiding underneath the person trying to kill us.

“Now what?” Jaimin asks as we huddle around a thick trunk with low branches. They impede our visibility, but that also means any archer won’t be able to get a good shot.

Coryn shrugs. “Usually I have other fighters with me. I need a minute to think of a plan.”

“Where’d the archers come from, anyway?” I ask.

“They must have been here before,” Coryn explains. “That’s probably why the priests were riding so hard—they knew we’d clear the trees soon and wanted to catch us first.”

Above, Leicht swoops close again, screaming in fury. I reach down my path to Tia.

“No fire yet. We’re in the trees.”

“We know. Leicht can see roughly where you are and thinks he can avoid you.”

That’s pretty risky.“Coryn’s working on a plan. Give him a minute before we set fire to priests.”

“How’s that plan going, Coryn?” An arrow bounces off a branch above us. “Do I need to shield us? Could we just ride through them?” Although a moving shield is going to tire me quickly.

“How long can you hold that shield?” Jaimin counters. “If we don’t do something about them now, they’ll just follow us. We can’t shelter in the village if there are angry priests after us.”

“I think we need to go deeper into the trees, then have Leicht set this part of the woods on fire,” Coryn adds regretfully. “Without more of us to hunt down the archers, I don’t see another choice.”

Great.Anything to add?I ask the stone. Its only reply is to show me the acolyte’s face.Yeah, fine, I’ll tell Tia to aim for trees and archers, not priests.

Looking up, I can see Leicht swinging back toward us again. He’s still some distance away, over the fields, but as he gets closer, an arrow rises from the trees in his direction. It falls well short, but another follows, and this one bounces off his hide.

I snort. “Those idiots are shooting at Leicht.”

Coryn’s eyes widen. “Will they hurt him?”

“They’ll make him mad, but nothing short of a giant crossbow can get through dragon hide. He’s going to enjoy?—”

The world slices away, and a scream tears from my throat.

“Talon?” Jaimin demands, grabbing my shoulder. “What— Tia!” he shouts, following my gaze.

My sister plummets from the sky, and my feet move, racing through the trees. An arrow buzzes past me, and rage cuts through my fear. Magic surges from me, but I don’t know what it does. All my focus is on getting to Tia, stopping her from crashing to the ground. Leicht’s diving after her, his screams enough to shake the forest and hurt my ears, and his massive claw snatches her from the air.

A moment later, as I finally break clear of the last of the trees, he lands with a shuddering thud and sets her gently on the road.

I skid to my knees beside her, my vision blurry, scrabbling to grab hold of her hand. I don’t need to see the arrow in her throat to know she’s gone. I knew the second it struck. My mind feels wrong, empty… hollow.

Leicht’s screams echo across the fields, bouncing off the trees.

Tia’s dead.

Leicht’s screams echo in my ears, a heartrending mourning dirge.

My sister’s gone.

Leicht’s screams rip through my head a?—

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